Abstract

We investigated the process of magnetic field- induced optical second harmonic generation (SHG) in sodium vapor with a cw single-frequency dye laser tuned in the vicinity of the resonantly enhancing 3S-4D two-photon transition at 578.7 nm.¹ All previous investigators have used pulsed dye lasers with relatively large linewidths.² By exploiting the narrow linewidth capability of the cw dye laser (0.5 MHz) we have been able to investigate in detail for the first time properties of the SHG process which change across the line profile. We modeled the process on a theory developed from that reported by Uchlki et al.² The two-photon absorption creates coherent quadrupole moments which rotate in the magnetic field due to Zeeman splitting to allow generation of the second harmonic.

© 1986 Optical Society of America